


the wondrous bond of unity

by delfinos



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: Anime Discourse, Attempt at Humor, Bad French, Crack Treated Seriously, Glitter, Haircuts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 15:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20212306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delfinos/pseuds/delfinos
Summary: for fence crack week 2019!When Nicholas flicks off the light and opens the door, their room is dark save for the Himalayan salt lamp on the nightstand dousing anything close enough in a soft red-orange hue. Seiji is already in his bed, changed out and under the covers with the glitter gone from his cheek, hair wavy and curling on his forehead, the way it does when it’s still damp. His profile is illuminated in a sunset glow that only emphasizes the intensity of his eyes as they watch him. Nicholas doesn’t miss his old nightlight, not even a little bit.Swallowing, he tries feigning casualness by crossing his arms and leaning against the door jamb. “You’re gonna have to use actual words if you want me to cuddle you.”They share a long combative stare and Nick knows he’s already won before Seiji glances away first, scoffing and scooting over to make some room. “Just get over here.”





	1. day one: daddy issues

**Author's Note:**

> this fic contains emojis, which may change/fail to show up properly depending on your device! i recommend just reading off a smartphone :)

Eugene is around forty-five minutes into Algebra ll when his phone starts buzzing wildly in the pocket of his slacks. He at first thinks Bobby must be calling, without a doubt to ask him about going over to the drama building during his free period so Eugene can play guinea pig for the costume department. For the past two weeks, they, with Bobby as their overlord, pulled gaudy costumes over his head and stuck him with pins as they made little altercations here and there because he just so happened to almost have the same exact measurements as the main lead for the school's upcoming play or musical, Eugene can't begin to understand the difference. All he knows is that it had been hell the first three times and if Peter Pan doesn't stop blowing guys under the football field bleachers and start showing up to dress rehearsals, he and Eugene are going to have problems. 

It's only when the seconds tick by and the constant vibrating doesn't let up does Eugene realize he's getting bombarded with texts. The team group chat is blowing up and he’s sitting here missing out on all the fun and the potential shitshow.

Glancing around, everyone else seems to be busy either finishing up the worksheet they were assigned at the start of class or sneaking looks at their own phones. Eugene's teacher has her nose buried in a sudoku book at the front of the room and the guy next to him obviously doesn't give a fuck, judging by the way he has his AirPods in and seems wholly absorbed with the sports anime he's watching that Eugene knows for a fact is overrated. After a few moments, he opens up his textbook and folders to make himself look as busy as possible before sliding his phone out and hiding it in the cover of his clunky ring binder. 

When Eugene taps on the group chat notification, he instinctively almost shuts his phone off and chucks it across the room. Aiden's string of multiple accidents where he had sent suggestive or straight up nude pictures to the group chat instead of his weekly conquest had happened just enough to where Eugene was on guard whenever he saw the senior had attached an image. This one appears to be safe. On closer inspection, it looks to be just a screenshot of some shirtless Amazon model in bubblegum pink short-shorts and a listing of the price and size chart, until Eugene blows the picture up and notices the flirty cursive print reading "DADDY ISSUES" right across the ass.

He squints. What the fuck?

aiden 🐍: should i buy these y/n please be honest  
nick 🌈: wtf are those…  
aiden 🐍: booty shorts i found online ;) like them?  
seiji 👑: That’s truly disgusting.  
harvard 🧸: i already told you they’re tacky & borderline problematic. Literally buy anything else.  
aiden 🐍: well maybe i like them and maybe i identify with them  
nick 🌈: whats daddy issues mean anyways?? idgi  
aiden 🐍: oh it’s what you have, honey  
seiji 👑: Aiden.  
harvard 🧸: Aiden...  
aiden 🐍: actually it’s what ½ of this team has and I think we need to embrace it. so i’m going to need everyone’s sizes…they look like they run small ;)  
nick 🌈: ok im a 12. btw does it come in black??  
seiji 👑: Nicholas, where are you?  
nick 🌈: idk where am i 😏  
gene 🇵🇭: lmao @ seiji acting like he doesn’t kno nicks schedule. classic  
harvard 🧸: gene thank god. help me out here  
gene 🇵🇭: idk capn, coach still hasn’t put in orders for our varsity jackets you were supposed to give her so maybe we should roll up at our next event in these shorts instead. watch out boys >:)  
gene 🇵🇭: yknow i bet if aiden wore those at our bake sale we wouldve sold a lot more cupcakes lol  
harvard 🧸: thanks gene. appreciate it.  
seiji 👑: Well, I’m not wearing that.  
harvard 🧸: don’t worry, no one is.  
aiden 🐍: oh?  
aiden 🐍: all in favor of daddy issues, say yay, all in favor of being boring, say nay  
aiden 🐍: yay  
gene 🇵🇭: yay  
harvard 🧸: NAY  
seiji 👑: Nay.  
nick 🌈: yay!  
seiji 👑: Nicholas.  
nick 🌈: Seiji. 🤔  
harvard 🧸: aiden im team captain, im the only one that gets to call a team vote.  
aiden 🐍: why bother? we both know i always get what i want 😇  
harvard 🧸: uh huh  
gene 🇵🇭: oh so it’s dandy when Aiden pulls the team vote card but when i do it i get called disruptive  
harvard 🧸: yes because you only do it when we’re deciding what to eat and you want taco hell  
gene 🇵🇭: wtf is wrong with taco bell  
aiden 🐍: i may put a lot of things in my body but i’m proud to say taco hell will never be one of them  
gene 🇵🇭: speaking of gay stuff, where’s team baby 👀 they disappeared. team vote: are they killing each other or sucking face. im gonna say a lil of both  
harvard 🧸: see that’s the other reason you’re not allowed to call a team vote  
seiji 👑: We’re here, I was explaining something to Nicholas. Eugene, shut up.  
nick 🌈: aiden idk if I want those shorts anymore  
aiden 🐍: of course you do! they look comfy, wear them as pj's. that’s what i'm going to do. :)  
gene 🇵🇭: lmfao i can only imagine the hormonal greenhouse that’s going to be rooms 105 and 108  
gene 🇵🇭: i mean more than it is now  
seiji 👑: Harvard, mute him.  
gene 🇵🇭: can’t fucking silence me for speaking the truth  


harvard has muted gene.

harvard has unmuted gene.

gene 🇵🇭: wow who knew u could feel like the third wheel in a fucking group chat. bye u gays  
gene 🇵🇭: *guys  
gene 🇵🇭: nvm its all the same

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> groupchat inspired by harrybopeep's cute fic [**the shitshow of a gc**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19814224) that i really like. :) thanks for reading!!


	2. day two: aiden dumped me

“Yo!” Harvard can hear Eugene call loudly, before the clubhouse door swings open, letting in a rush of chilly January air. The three youngest fencers of the team attempt to cross the threshold at once, which causes Eugene to be squished between the freshmen, who begin to competitively jockey him back and forth with sharp elbows and shoulders like whoever ends up with him last loses. Eugene breaks free eventually, throwing the two his best withering look before turning to squint at both him and Aiden. “Uh, do you have your phones? You check Twitter recently?”

Harvard smiles down at the projector cables he had been hooking up as Aiden’s tinkling laughter trails off. “Get hacked again? You need to come up with a stronger password than your boyfriend’s name.”

Eugene blushes a bit, but his brows are furrowed in a way that looks completely unfamiliar. Seiji and Nick have quit fooling around and are unusually silent, exchanging a long look with one another. Harvard is instantly set on edge at the weirdness. “No, it has nothing to do with me.”

Aiden rips open another bag of popcorn and looks up just in time to catch the subtle flick of Eugene’s eyes he sends in his direction in hopes to tip-off Harvard. The unpopped kernels hitting the plastic bottom of the bowl sound abnormally loud.

“About me?” he hums, and Harvard knows he’s delighted by the idea.

Eugene starts to rub at his forehead. “Uh, yeah, about you, buddy.”

Aiden grins slyly, crumpling up the empty paper bag and tossing it away. He leans a hip against the couch, winks at them, a quirk that is so Gene-like that Harvard would tease him for it if it weren’t for the multitude of alarm bells currently going off in his head. “What’s another fan page?”

The freshmen at once start to slink away, tugging off their jackets and hanging them up on the ancient coatrack by the door. They take extra time with the gifts Bobby had knitted them for Christmas; Nick pulls the red beanie off his head and immediately tries to smooth down his unruly hair and Seiji slowly unwinds the chunky scarf from his neck. Another quick glance passes between them that Harvard can’t read.

“Gene,” he says roughly, causing Aiden to blink at him in surprise. “What’s going on?"

“Okay, well, how do I put this,” The junior fumbles, staring down the projector box like he hasn’t seen it hundred times by now. “Twitter is blowing up. Someone at the school made like a shitty confessions account where guys anonymously submit full-on details about their dates or hookups with Aiden.” Eugene pauses, rolls his eyes. “It’s creatively called Aiden Dumped Me.”

Harvard feels like his mouth is suddenly sandpaper. Attempting to swallow, he looks over at his best friend to see him busying himself with opening a bag of trail mix, unbothered. “Why should I care about what they say about me?

“C’mon man…” Eugene lifts his eyebrows at him in a silent plea to jump in at any time, but Harvard doesn’t know if any words would come out if he opened his mouth. “They aren’t saying nice things, they’re exposing you. We all know better, but you gotta realize how it makes you look. There’s already dozens of tweets on it, and it’s being followed by students from other schools, according to Kally.”

“It’s a hate account,” Seiji states abruptly, and Gene shoots him a look like he warned the freshmen beforehand to stay out of it. “We should report it to the school staff as soon as possible.”

Aiden pops an M&M into his mouth before he gives Seiji a certain type of smirk Harvard hasn’t seen in months. “Aren’t you sweet, Katayama?”

Nick frowns at that. “It’s not right what they’re doing. We need to stop it.”

“What’s the saying? Boys will be boys?”

Clearing his throat, Harvard finally finds his voice. “Meaning what? You don’t deserve basic respect?”

It’s quiet as Aiden stares down at the snack bowls he had been arranging on the scratched, roughened up coffee table. Then, he takes a seat at his usual place on the couch. Even when under the low lights of the fencing clubhouse, surrounded by dust motes and ratty furniture and faced with a potential smear campaign, he manages to look elegant as ever. “Well, if anything, they must be entertaining. Let’s read some of them.”

Seiji and Nicholas have expressions like they want to sink into the floor, and Harvard imagines he probably looks the same. Eugene splutters. “What the fuck you mean, _read them_?”

“How else am I going to know if it’s worth the energy of doing anything about?” Aiden’s green eyes are piercing as they peer into Harvard’s own. He pats the cushion next to him, and Harvard feels drawn to his side like a magnet. The freshmen hover awkwardly but are already eyeing the snacks set out on the table. Aiden huffs out a laugh as he hooks an arm through Harvard’s, snuggling into him in the way that’s so familiar and that Harvard will never get tired of.

“Are you two just going to let all my hard work go to waste? Go and sit.” Nicholas snatches up the giant bowl of trail mix before Aiden is even finished speaking, hunkering down on the smaller, dingier couch that’s perpendicular to them. As soon as Seiji takes a seat, Nicks twists sideways and plops his long legs across Katayama’s lap.

Eugene scrubs a hand over his face. “Aiden, look. This isn’t a joke. Kally called me on the way over to tell me about it, and how Tanner’s conducting an “investigation” out of their room. You know Tanner is going to go apeshit when he finds out who made the Twitter, right? Maybe we should cancel team movie night and head back.”

Aiden shrugs, the movement jostling Harvard as well. “Oh please, they won’t do anything without my blessing. Right now, I want to hear a few of these tweets and then I want to watch a movie with my team like we planned.” 

Eugene blinks rapidly, staring at Aiden before turning to Harvard. At his disbelief, Harvard draws his mouth into a thin line and shakes his head. What is there to say? Aiden always gets what he wants.

“Fucking Christ, you sure are a certain type of narcissist,” Eugene grumbles in a surrender, pulling out his phone from his back pocket. “Why do I gotta be the one to read this shit aloud?”

“Because you’re the team’s story-teller!” Nick pipes up between huge mouthfuls of trail mix, and flat out ignoring the disgusted look Seiji is giving him.

Aiden smirks. “Make me look good.”

Gene clears his throat dramatically, swiping his thumb across the screen. Harvard tries to ignore the way his stomach is knotting up, constricting on itself. He doesn’t want to hear about the guys Aiden’s been with, what they did together or the horrible things they are now saying behind the veil of anonymity. He wants to escape, but Aiden’s grip on him is vice-like.

Eugene scrolls for a few seconds before suddenly grinning. His voice becomes whiny and tinny. “Aiden dumped me when he used the Taylor Swift tickets I bought as a date for us to take Harvard Lee instead.”

Aiden waves a hand around in the air dismissively, while Nick groans loudly and then starts to laugh. “He handed me two tickets; he didn’t say I had to take him! I thought it was a birthday gift.”

Harvard tries to fight the smile threatening to break free. “Aiden, your birthday was like three months before her tour even began.”

“Oh, whatever!” Aiden smiles, reaching out to poke a finger to his dimple. “We had fun, didn’t we? Best seats in the venue!”

“Okay, okay, lemme find another one,” Eugene seems totally on board with this now, pitching back and forth enthusiastically in the rocking chair. Raising an eyebrow, he looks up. “Aiden dumped me when I told him I thought he was a top.”

“I don’t think that one needs an explanation,” Aiden sniffs indignantly over everyone’s riotous laughter and Seiji attempting to shield his face in mortification. “Actually, I find it quite insulting. Do I really seem like a top? Please be honest.”

“Definitely not.” Seiji states in the driest tone, and they all start snickering again. Nicholas almost chokes on a peanut.

“These guys sure are doing a better job at embarrassing themselves more than they are you.” Eugene mutters, his eyes flicking over to meet Harvard’s for only a moment before returning to his phone screen. It’s too quick to decipher, especially when Aiden drops his head onto his shoulder and Harvard’s brain short-circuits, killing any more chance at rational thought.

“Another one!” Nicholas declares, trying to pin down Seiji’s arm with his foot when he reaches for more trail mix. When Seiji wraps his hand around a bare ankle in defense, Nick throws a cashew and it bounces right off the tip of Katayama’s nose.

Eugene shoves some popcorn into his mouth, keeping it in his cheek like a chipmunk. Harvard has to focus hard to understand what he says next. “Aiden dumped me when I suggested we split the bill at a steakhouse. And then he forgot my name while we were still at the table.”

Nicholas scoffs, but there’s a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You’re loaded and you can’t pay half?”

“Food tastes twice as better when someone else buys it,” Aiden enlightens, squeezing Harvard’s arm. “You’ll see what I mean when Katayama takes you out to dinner.”

Eugene is clapping and howling at the freshmen’s flushed faces, who refuse to make eye contact but also choose not to move from their current entangled position. Aiden lifts his head and turns to Harvard, an impish smile on his face and his nose scrunched up in the way it does when he’s being playful. Harvard laughs and pulls him impossibly closer.

“What’s next?”

After half an hour of reading tweets and spiraling off-track into different conversations that had nothing to do with pathetic guys, Eugene spam reports the account and they continue getting ready for movie night. While he’s making sure the projector is displaying the video file correctly, Harvard can’t help but think Eugene had purposefully read aloud the tamest, most pettiest of the confessions, if Kally’s concerns and Tanner’s fuming reaction are anything to go by. The majority are probably scathing and angry with the objective to publicly shame him. Harvard can’t help the bile that rises into his throat at the thought. He wants to protect him, but Aiden treats it like it’s a joke, like he doesn’t care, and Harvard can’t even begin to understand why.

By the third act, Harvard is completely distracted by the way Aiden has their fingers threaded together and how his thumb is tracing nonsensical patterns over his skin to even listen to the other’s running commentary about the bladework in the movie or brood over the Twitter account. Aiden shifts against his side, pulling the wool blanket more snugly around them.

“Okay?” he whispers into his ear and Harvard can do nothing but nod dumbly. He can feel Aiden staring so he squeezes his hand in hopes to get him to stop and continue to do that thing with this thumb.

“Harvard,” Aiden whispers again after a few moments, and Harvard turns his head to look at him. The light from the projector is turning Aiden’s eyes into a distracting sea-glass green. “I don’t care what those boys have to say, it means nothing to me. You know I only care about what the most important man in my life thinks.”

Untangling their fingers, Aiden reaches out to gently cup Harvard’s face with a hand before he leans in and presses a lingering kiss to his cheek.

“Um, _hello_?”

Feeling like his body is glowing and burning outwards from the spot Aiden's lips just were, Harvard manages to tear his attention away from a smirking blonde to see Eugene, Nicholas, and Seiji staring at them with big, round eyes and slack jaws. They have their hands halfway into a bowl of popcorn, frozen still.

“The fuck? You two just _kiss_?”


	3. day three: fateful shonen rivalry

“Is being just roommates and teammates not cutting it anymore?” Nicholas says as Seiji pulls a chair out from the table opposite of him. The library is momentarily loud with the rest of their Latin class filing in, picking out where they want to sit and throwing their bags down. A herd of guys make a beeline to the row of computers while Ms. Zhang is trying to explain over the commotion about how they only have thirty minutes of the period left to choose partners, consult about project details and get a head start on any research. Nick isn’t sure what kind of teacher assigns a giant project within the first two weeks of school, but he’s already dreading it. He thinks he should’ve picked American Sign Language instead.

Seiji’s dark eyes flick over it all with an expression like he’d rather be anywhere else. He frowns at Nicholas’ sorry excuse of a joke. “Do you want to be partners or not?”

“Uh, yeah, I was just messing around.” Nick tugs his bag closer when Seiji immediately sits and begins pulling out their class textbook and a thick notebook. He eyes the fancy-looking fountain pen Seiji sets on the table’s surface that must cost what Nicholas made in three, four months cleaning the ball room back home.

Seiji scans over the syllabus that was passed out during class. The project has them doing research on the ancient origins of the constellations and the myths associated with each. The fact that a big percentage of their grade depends on their constellation sketches has Nick thinking whoever can’t make a straight line to save their life is automatically in trouble, himself included.

Seiji glances up. “Can you draw well?

Nick plays with the plastic strap adjuster of his backpack. “No, if I’m honest. I didn’t think this was Art 101.”

“Is all that pointless doodling you do in our classes not paying off?

“I don’t know, you tell me since you seem to be paying attention.”

Rolling his eyes, Seiji huffs out an annoyed breath. “I guess I’ll do that part then. That leaves you with the research portion. Think you can do that?”

Nicholas furrows his eyebrows, trying to evenly match the sour expression Seiji is giving him. “_Yeah_, I can do that.”

“Great.”

“Fine.”

They begin working together in complete silence. Seiji almost instantly brandishes his pair of headphones, plugging them into his phone and Nicholas scoffs because he can’t just use earbuds like a normal person. Flipping through the chapters on myths in their textbook, Nick selects the required amount needed, cherry-picking the ones that seem like they would be most difficult for Seiji to draw. He scribbles them down on a sheet of notebook paper and passes it across the table wordlessly to Seiji who reads it and glares at him, like he knows exactly what Nicholas is doing. Nick blinks innocently.

After a few minutes of skimming over passages about the Draco constellation and making bullet notes, both him and Seiji’s phones begin to buzz in sync. Nicholas stares down where they rest on the table in surprise, but Seiji snatches his own up, looking irritated. He pulls a headphone off a single ear.

“How do you mute it?”

“Mute what?”

“The team group chat Harvard made us join.”

“I don’t know.” Nick admits, rubbing at the nape of his neck. He’s never been part of a group chat before.

A little displeased noise escaping from his throat, Seiji adjusts his headphones but not before Nicholas sees him turn the volume up on his music. When he returns to drawing, Nick takes an opportunity to peek over and isn’t all surprised to find that Seiji appears to be a modern-day Picasso, doing a hell of a better job than Nick ever could.

Nicholas glances at his phone, which much like Seiji’s, is buzzing with a text notification every ten or so seconds. It’s the most active the group chat has ever been, as its original purpose was for scheduling practice times. Only as of recently have the upperclassmen been using it to talk about stuff that’s not strictly fencing. Nick has jumped in a few times when he’s seen a good opportunity to because he really likes Eugene. Aiden actually seems nicer through text than in person and Harvard always tries to include Seiji and him in conversations, only Seiji has never actually texted anything back.

Reaching for his phone, he doesn’t miss the disapproving look his partner shoots him. Nicholas sticks his tongue out and holds up his page of notes. “Who’s got more work done? Keep going, Michelangelo.”

Seiji works his jaw but ultimately says nothing, but the way the pencil is scratching aggressively on paper speaks for itself. Leaning back in his chair, Nick swipes open the text thread.

Eugene: lmfao two guys just started swinging at each other in my math class and security had to break it up and now the rest of us are just sitting in the quad not having to do work. gotta love this school  
Harvard: did you record it?  
Eugene: WORLDSTAAAARRR  
Aiden: were they fighting over me by chance? ;)  
Eugene: uhhh actually they were LOL daniel crawford and marcelino gomez???  
Aiden: no idea but i can’t deny and say i don’t love when boys spill blood in my honor  
Eugene: ill send vid later after i add anime sound effects and shit  
Eugene: gonna put a kamehameha blast at the part where the chair is thrown  
Harvard: i haven’t watched dbz in forever. You like db too?  
Eugene: fuck yea i knew my cap had good taste!!!  
Aiden: ive only ever seen Ouran Koukou Host Club and Death Note. holding out on me, harvard? :(  
Eugene: i mean this in the non-pettiest way…but god does that explain so much about you

Nicholas chews on a fingernail. The upperclassmen are speaking a foreign language that seems a whole lot more difficult than all the Latin stuff he’s staring at. But admittedly, also a lot more interesting. He decides to bite.

  
Nicholas: what’s a kamehameahyeehaw?  
Eugene: dragon ball z? best anime ever?  
Nicholas: ohh never watched it  
Eugene: what the fuck  
Eugene: ok so ur a modern era fan….AoT? HxH? voltron dont count so don’t even try it  
Nicholas: no like ive never watched anything anime ever..? lol  
Harvard: eugene.exe has stopped working.  
Eugene: sometimes i feel like nick is some rip van wrinkle who just woke up and doesn’t know what anything is besides fencing and the color black.  
Eugene: its cute though!  
Aiden: he was fencing for a whole year and didn’t know who katayama was until a regional circuit  
Aiden: so its completely plausible 🙄

Feeling himself flushing, Nicholas hurries to type something out to change the subject and save his dignity, especially when he spots Seiji looking over at him, and then making to pick up his phone.

  
Nicholas: wait! there was one that i used to watch actually  
Nicholas: something….mon  
Eugene: pokemon?  
Harvard: Pokémon!  
Nicholas: no that wasn’t it  
Eugene: if its Digimon we’re gonna fight  
Nicholas: that’s it!!  
Eugene: aight where r u  
Seiji: We’re in the library.  
Eugene: oh hello seiji. doing what 👀  
Nicholas: Working on our latin project 👀  
Eugene: and is there a lot of work being done? 👀  
Seiji: Stop using that face.  
Harvard: seiji whats your favorite anime? Please don’t say Digimon

Nicholas risks a peek to see Seiji intensely frowning down at his screen.

Seiji: I don’t have time to watch cartoons.  
Eugene: CARTOONS??  
Seiji: If you spent less time watching them and more time practicing, maybe you’d stop fencing with a bent arm.  
Nicholas: 👀  


Muffling a loud, unexpected laugh into the crook of his arm and then disguising it into a few fake coughs when the other guys turn to curiously peer at them, Nick revels in the way Seiji is looking amused for once and not constipated.

Eugene: ill pretend i got muted and was unable to read that  
Eugene: tbh i just find it hilarious how the freshmen don’t watch anime despite having that fateful shonen rivalry going on  
Eugene: i cant be the only one that sees it  
Eugene: where they fight and talk shit but theres gay subtext  
Aiden: theres gay subext in everything if you try hard enough ;)  
Harvard: i’m shocked you just didn’t type “get” instead and then fake corrected it to “try”.  
Aiden: oh too easy :)  
Eugene: yoohoo, naruto and sasuke, are u there????

Nicholas and Seiji quickly shove their books and papers back into their bags as everyone else moves around them, already stampeding towards the library doors before the period bell has even stopped ringing. Slipping his phone into the back pocket of his slacks, Nick can still feel it vibrating.

He glances at Seiji, who is taking off his headphones and neatly winding up the cord and pointedly not attempting to make eye contact with him. Nicholas fiddles with his necktie that suddenly feels too tight.

“Hey, that was our last class. Want to get extra practice in before actual practice?”

Seiji says nothing, but he looks up and raises an eyebrow incredulously.

Nicholas can’t help but laugh. “Come on, I know you can’t say no when it comes to fencing.”

“Fine, but you should let the rest of the team know.” He says, brushing past. “You’re not the only one who needs all the help they can get.”

He’s out the door and Nicholas can do nothing but follow.


	4. day four: normal school stuff besides sports

“Oh,” Aiden mutters, pressing a knuckle to his lips. “This is worse than I thought.”

At his words, the team lets out a collective groan from their spots spread across the dorm room. Shaking his head and clicking his tongue, Aiden watches as Nicholas nervously shifts around in Harvard’s cushioned office chair and looks up at him with panicked eyes.

He squeaks out something, clears his throat, and tries again. “You’re gonna have to cut it out?”

“Look,” Aiden sighs, plucking a handheld mirror off the desk and passing it over so the freshman can watch as he carefully parts his hair in a way to expose the giant wad of pink bubblegum stretched sticky throughout the tapering end of his thick undercut. “You managed to get it in there good. I need to do some serious snipping.” He sidesteps a little so the rest of the team can see while Nicholas gapes in horror at his reflection.

Eugene lets out a low whistle, while Harvard winces sympathetically. Seiji is practically radiating anger which makes Aiden grin. Someone is upset about his boyfriend’s unfortunate hair accident.

Looking down at his hands, he instantly feels his smile fly off his face. “Do I want to know what this is?”

“We thought that peanut butter chocolate pudding might work like straight up peanut butter's supposed to.” Eugene says, but he sounds like he doesn’t believe it himself and just simply wanted to further contribute to the chaotic energy he created when the piece of gum he was chopping on flew out of his mouth and lodged itself into Nicholas’ hair at dinner.

“This wouldn’t have even happened if you didn’t laugh like a braying donkey.” Seiji snaps, while Harvard is one-step ahead, already tossing Aiden an old towel. He crosses his eyes briefly as the children begin to loudly squabble, and Aiden’s grin is back like it never left.

“It was an accident!” Eugene spits in return, rolling to his stomach on the mattress. “You aren’t mad at me, right Nick?”

“No,” Nicholas says quickly, setting the mirror down and smiling sheepishly up at Aiden, looking like he’s come to terms with his fate. “I guess it was time for a haircut, anyways.”

Meticulously wiping the pudding residue from his fingers, Aiden smirks. “You’re going to let me buzz it all off?"

Seiji lets out a little strangled noise from his throat that no one else seems to notice except for him.

Nicholas cringes. “I like my undercut.”

Chuckling, Aiden cards a hand through the gum and pudding-free section of the freshman’s hair, making sure Katayama can see exactly what he’s doing. “I can get the gum out, but I’m going to have to cut off a little from everywhere else, so you don’t end up looking like a botched gay disaster.” 

“Do you even know how to do that?”

Aiden snatches his hand back, instantly offended. He gestures towards his own tresses, which were voted the best on campus three years running. “Uh, hello?”

“Aiden has been cutting his own hair since we were like seven.” Harvard reassures from his position lounging across his bed. “Kally, Tanner, and I just let him do ours instead of going to a barber.”

Eugene snorts. “Wow, so Tanner walks around like that willingly?”

While Harvard is playfully digging his foot into Eugene’s side, who begins whining pitifully, Aiden gives Nick’s ear a little flick. “Up, up, come along.” He pulls him out of the desk chair and ushers him into the dorm’s tiny bathroom, completely aware how quickly Seiji stands to follow close on their heels.

Switching on the light, Aiden positions Nicholas in front of the sink before he rummages around for a clean towel and his salon bag in a cabinet. When he turns to set them on the countertop, the freshmen are staring down each other’s reflections in the mirror.

“Grouchy because of my hair? That’s a new one.”

Seiji frowns from where he’s leaning against the door frame. “I don’t care about your stupid hair.”

Nick just grins. “Uh huh. You’re totally more upset than I am, and I’m the victim here.”

“You’re delusional.”

Aiden twists the knob and unceremoniously thrusts Nicholas’ head under the flow of warm water. He fumbles to grip the edge of the sink, spluttering something that comes out distorted over the stream loudly hitting the basin and Aiden just hums and gives him a reassuring pat between his shoulder blades.

Turning to look at Seiji, he smirks. “Don’t worry, he’ll still be pretty when I’m done with him. I’ll make sure you still have something to hold on to.”

Katayama is giving him a glare that could turn coal to diamonds and then back again but says nothing to that, so Aiden knows he’s won. Turning off the water, he drapes a towel across Nick’s shoulders like hairdresser’s cape while he’s pouting at his reflection, looking disgruntled through the messy wet mop of hair stuck to his forehead and dripping into eyes. Seiji arches an eyebrow, studying him.

“You look like a wet dog.”

“A wet dog you like to kiss?”

“Back into the chair,” Aiden orders, scooping up his bag and pushing them out of the cramped bathroom. “This is where the fun part begins.”

Gene immediately starts snickering when he catches sight of Nick shuffling in with crossed arms. Meeting Aiden’s eyes with a knowing smile, Harvard gives the freshman two thumbs up.

“You look handsome already, Nick.”

Nicholas swivels a little petulantly in the chair. “But Aiden didn’t do anything yet.”

Eugene ignores the preemptive warning look Katayama shoots him. “He gave you a much-needed hose down!”

“Eugene,” Seiji says, voice like ice. “Please stop talking.”

Aiden rummages through the bag to find his iridescent pair of salon shears and matching hair clippers. When he approaches Nick, he snips at the air with the scissors, catching his attention and giving the freshman a good look of what he’s holding.

“Trust me?”

Nicholas responds without hesitation. “Yeah.”

“Good, now let me see. Sit up straight.”

It takes a solid fifteen minutes, but Aiden manages to get out the pieces of hair coated in gum. Nick’s eyes dart over to Seiji every time a big clump falls to the ground, smiling at the way he’s intensely watching the whole process like it’s a fencing match. Eugene is recording everything for Snapchat and Harvard gives an excellent play by play commentary, laughing at the way Aiden keeps flicking Nicholas’ ear whenever he starts to habitually slouch or tilt his head.

Aiden is in the difficult process of trimming everything evenly and giving the freshman some much needed layers when there’s a loud knock at the dorm’s open door. Glancing up from his work expecting to see one of the other boys from Castello, he blinks at the sight of some unfamiliar jock in a letterman jacket peering curiously in and hesitantly stepping over the threshold.

Aiden frowns. He hates when people come into his and Harvard’s room uninvited.

He perches a free hand up on his hip. “Can I help you?”

“Uh, hey,” The boy says, looking around at them like this is the strangest sight he's ever seen before he squints at both him and Nicholas. “Are you ready for our date? I thought I was late but maybe I’m actually…early?"

He laughs, and the sound immediately grates on Aiden’s nerves. He has no idea who this boy is but he’s already proving to be very annoying.

“Date? I don’t know you.”

The guy’s smile quickly disappears. “Are you being serious? Erik Stephens? I literally asked you out Monday.” He holds up a plastic bag from Stop & Shop and shakes it around roughly. “We’re supposed to go to the movies, I got fucking food and everything.”

“Oh, well,” Aiden says, turning his attention back to Nick and putting a finger under his chin so he immediately straightens. “I’m dealing with an emergency situation right now. We’ll have to reschedule that for another day.” He won’t be rescheduling.

Out of his peripheral vision, Aiden sees the Neanderthal spluttering with rage. “Wait just a fucking minute, I'm not leaving here until-“

Eugene speaks up, panning his phone over and making it aware he's recording everything. “The answer is no, bro. Learn to read a room.”

Seiji hisses. “We’re busy. Leave.”

Nicholas flashes a peace sign in parting as Harvard rises off the mattress, herding the jock back towards the door. Before he slams it shut in his cherry-red face, he effortlessly plucks the plastic bag from his fingers. “Thanks for the snacks. Have a nice night.”

“What an abominable creature he was!” Aiden breathes, passing a wide-tooth comb through Nick’s hair. Harvard shakes his head and sighs, returning to his seat, where he spills the contents of the bag out between him and the others.

“I got that entire showdown on Snapchat,” Eugene beams, angling his phone so Seiji and Harvard can see when they lean over to watch.

Humming while plugging in the hair clippers and selecting the correct guard necessary for an undercut, Aiden can’t help but notice Nick swiveling in the chair, looking at him but not saying anything. Aiden pauses and lifts an eyebrow.

“My hair isn’t that big of a deal. You could’ve gone on your date if you wanted. I mean, if he didn’t turn out to be a total dick.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Aiden huffs, reaching out to pull on his earlobe. “I’d much rather spend my Friday nights with boys who are important to me. I can actually remember all of your names.”

He lifts the hair clippers, waving them through the air a little bit. “Ready?”

Nick nods eagerly and smiles.

Aiden stands back to admire his work for a few seconds before killing the loud buzz of the hair clippers. With Eugene slapping his legs in a dramatic drum roll, Aiden spins the chair around to face the rest of the team, pulling the towel off Nick’s shoulders with a grand flourish. “All done! Look how handsome!”

Harvard grins, reaching out to ruffle Nick’s trimmed, fresh undercut. “You clean up nice.”

“That rat’s nest is finally under control,” Eugene snickers, as Aiden passes Nicholas the handheld mirror so he can look for himself. “Maybe me getting that gum in your hair was a blessing in disguise.”

Catching sight of his reflection in the mirror, Nick ducks his head in embarrassment. He rubs at his neck, then runs a hand slowly through his hair and smiles almost shyly. “Thanks, Aiden.”

“Uh huh,” Aiden swings the chair so it directly faces Seiji. “What do we think, Katayama?”

The fencing prodigy has a pink flush creeping up his neck and he visibly swallows. “It’s suitable.”

Eugene grins, then cackles. “Oh my god, he loves it. Holy shit.”

“Then my work here is done.” Aiden declares as Nick gets up to twist his body in a long stretch. When he’s getting ready to put his weapons of choice back into the salon bag, Gene plops himself into the open chair, sending it skidding across the floor of the dorm.

“Me next?” he says, swiveling around and peering deep into the mirror he had plucked from Nicholas. He pulls at the dark mop of hair on his head, looking contemplative. “I want something that lets everyone know I’m very bisexual and very single.”

Harvard chuckles as if can see all the possibilities currently running through Aiden’s mind at Eugene practically giving him free reign. “You should really start charging.”

Aiden hums thoughtfully, placing the towel upon Eugene’s shoulders. “Are you going to be my first paying customer?”

When Harvard smiles, Aiden’s attention immediately falls to the dimple that pokes out of his cheek. ”You're really gonna make your best friend pay?”

Aiden rolls his eyes and busies himself with reaching for his shears, glancing away to notice the freshmen sitting crosslegged and close together on one of the mattresses. When he thinks no one else is watching, Seiji tentatively lifts a hand and cards it through the thick part of Nick’s hair before giving it a little tug. Nicholas is grinning.

"Miracles don't always happen for free, Harvard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im a few days behind on this due to real-life obligations but i really want to try writing for every prompt so fence crack week for me might turn into fence crack week plus a couple of days. thanks for reading!!


	5. day five: kabedon

Seiji wakes up at Nicholas’ poor attempt at shutting the door quietly behind him.

Peering out through his eyelashes, he can see the other boy slowly toe off the ratty pair of Vans worn insistently at every nonmandatory opportunity that Kings Row dress code allows. He’s all out of uniform, in a deep gray T-shirt and a pair of black jeans with so many deliberate rips, it hardly seems practical as an item of clothing. Glancing over in his direction, Nicholas fishes his wallet from a pocket and soundlessly sets it on the dorm desk. The full moon pouring in from the room’s single uncurtained window douses him in a pale light, and that’s when Seiji notices the presence of glitter all throughout his roommate’s stupid hair. The small, reflective particles shimmer and dance when Nicholas hunches over to peel off his hole-ridden socks. A lone patch looks to be smeared over a cheek; he can see more of the sparkling abominations glinting on his cupid’s bow.

Seiji shifts minutely to glance at the screen of his phone for the time. 2:18 a.m.

“Where were you?”

Nicholas jumps and a truly undignified noise escapes his throat as he clutches his socks to his chest with wide eyes. Seiji makes sure to tuck the satisfying reaction away in his memory for later.

“Fuck,” Nicholas breathes, dropping the socks to the floor and Seiji knows they will undoubtedly somehow end up on his side of the room by morning. “You scared me, how long have you been awake?”

“You aren’t as quiet as you think you are,” Seiji props himself up on one elbow, and feels his muscles ache in protest from drills earlier that day. “Did you rob a craft store?”

Nicholas grins under Seiji’s arched eyebrow and reaches up to card his fingers through the longer, unruly section of his hair. Some glitter is consequently shifted loose and falls stark against the black of his shirt, looking like the world’s most annoying dandruff.

“Went to some party with Eugene,” Nicholas replies, heading towards his section of their dorm as he unabashedly pulls his shirt up and over his head in lieu of doing so behind the cover of the shower curtain. Seiji blinks away the flash of skin before glaring at one of the yellow cartoon duck monstrosities instead.

“Fantastic,” he mutters dryly, easing back onto the pillow with a frown. “Our two reserves sneaking off to engage in under-age activity. Just what our team’s reputation needs. What would have happened if you got caught?”

“Dunno, but we didn’t,” Seiji can hear Nicholas unzipping his tight jeans and then the struggle to kick them off. “Never see you huffing and puffing like this when we all hang out at the clubhouse like every week.”

“That’s a completely different circumstance.”

Nicholas lets out a little laugh from somewhere behind the curtain. “We literally scale up a wall to a roof, trek into the woods, and cross over a river with the sketchiest looking tree log.”

Seiji reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose. A stress headache is beginning to bloom, a common occurrence ever since Nicholas forced his way into his space, his routine, his life. He’s never met anybody so provoking and quick to get under his skin. He’s like a giant thorn stuck deep that Seiji can’t dig out.

“I think someone is just grouchy they didn’t get invited,” Nicholas comes into view again, wandering over to their wardrobe and digging through a drawer in search for pajamas. The only thing he has on is his boxers, and Seiji quickly opts to focus on the old water stain defacing the ceiling. His roommate lacking modesty in all aspects is starting to become irksome.

He furrows his brow. “What is there to be jealous of? Getting kicked off the team and possibly out of school? Having Labao dump a jumbo bag of art supplies in my hair for some ridiculous aesthetic reason?”

“Oh, that’s interesting,” Nicholas singsongs, Seiji can hear the smile in his voice as he shuffles once more behind their makeshift room divider. “I said grouchy, not jealous. But that’s good to know.”

Seiji can feel his face flush hot and the urge to snatch up his headphones and block out Nicholas for whatever little of the night that’s left is overwhelming. A switch is suddenly clicked, and Nicholas’ night light drenches their dorm in a warm, pleasant glow. Nicholas has never said why he needs it exactly, and Seiji has never asked, but over the last few weeks, he’s admittedly grown to find it comforting. He can feel his entire body inherently sink into the mattress.

“Hey.”

Turning his head, Seiji sees Nicholas peering at him from over the top of the shower curtain. With the light illuminating his profile, the rainbow glitter stuck in his hair has turned gold and almost blinding.

“Come with us next time?” Nicholas asks, then clears his throat. It is late, and they have been intensely half-whispering the entire time, now both of their voices carry the same raspy tone. “It’ll be lots of fun, I promise.”

For some strange reason he can’t discern at that moment, Seiji almost wants to say yes. Instead, he blurts: “Well, I’ve never been to a school party before.”

If Nicholas finds that snippet of personal information pathetic, he doesn’t show it. He slowly rolls one shoulder as if he’s too lazy to commit to the whole movement; a certain type of shrug Seiji has grown to identify just from living out of each other's pockets. He might have described it as endearing if it were anyone else but his roommate.

“Me neither before tonight,” Nicholas murmurs, slipping into his wrinkled sleeping tank without breaking eye contact. “I’ll ask Gene to take us both next time. We’ll call it even for you staying after practice so much and going over those sixte and octave parries with me.”

“I’d rather have Coach’s hand out of two hundred suicides. You look like one of Bobby’s gaudy sewing machine creations he makes for the drama department.”

Nicholas laughs loudly, the little parentheses-shaped lines appearing at the start of his big smile. “Do you _really_ not like it?”

Before Seiji can even think up a retort, Nicholas is lifting and ducking under the shower curtain, trespassing right into his side of the room. Instinctively pulling the duvet closer to his chest, Seiji shrinks away as he feels the mattress dip under Nicholas’ knee. With him leaning over, one foot still planted on the floor and a hand clasping at the headboard trim above him, Seiji can see the underlying aurous color of Nicholas’ irises. The speck of glitter clinging to his upper lip is winking in the low light. He stares, then manages to drag his gaze back up when he sees Nicholas swallow.

“Don’t you dare,” Seiji begins, for the first time noticing the glint in his roommate’s eyes that often means trouble. Nicholas has him boxed in, there is no escape when he reaches up with a free hand and violently runs fingers through his ridiculous hair, shaking his head like a wet dog. Seiji only has a moment to react, so he squeezes his eyes shut as he feels the tiny flecks of glitter fall across his forehead, land on his chin. The sudden urge to sneeze is overbearing.

“Now we match.” Seiji blinks away the shiny particles clinging to his eyelashes to squint up at Nicholas, still looming close over him and parading a lopsided grin. Seiji uses the back of a hand to swipe across his cheekbone, scowling when he sees the prismatic mess on his skin.

“You're incorrigible,” he splutters, before wiping the smear on Nicholas’ bed shirt, who infuriatingly makes no attempt to move away. “Are you satisfied with yourself? Get off of me.”

Nicholas’ gaze lingers on a point just below his left eye before it flicks back up to meet Seiji’s own, and that smirk returns with full force. “Just thought I’d be nice and share since you keep staring.”

Heat creeps up the back of Seiji’s neck at a concerning speed as he roughly twists the fabric of the other boy’s shirt in his fist. “It’s difficult not to, as you look even more preposterous than usual.”

“That’s a very on brand compliment coming from you,” Nicholas tilts his head and Seiji can feel more glitter rain down onto his throat. “I want a real answer about the party thing.”

He glares and gives Nicholas’ shirt a little tug. “I already gave you an answer.”

“That was a shitty excuse,” Nicholas retorts, eyebrows raising in mock disbelief. “What, scared I’ll one-up you at having fun, Katayama?”

Seiji can’t help but roll his eyes at Nicholas’ familiar tactic of goading him into some sort of trivial contest. He had used the same ruse just last week where they both had been assigned cupcake icing duty for the team bake sale and the other boy had declared it a race before even picking up the piping bag. The desserts had ended up looking grotesquely unappetizing, but it didn’t deter Nicholas from eating several.

Seiji immediately regrets the words before they can leave his mouth on a resigned exhale. “If I say I’ll consider it, would you just get off me?”

A smug look of victory crosses over his roommate’s features. “I don’t know, I’ll have to _consider_ it.” Nicholas lets out a laugh at his expression and begins to pull away, then pauses. “I could leave faster if I had my shirt back, you know.”

Practically hissing, Seiji releases the threadbare material of Nicholas’ top in favor of giving him a small shove as he hastily sits up and swabs a sleeve furiously over his face. Glitter is covering the sheets, and he assumes, was tracked in all over the floor, will unquestionably be all over Nicholas’ side of the room. Seiji can already picture himself still finding the shiny minuscule specks until the very end of the school year.

“It’s everywhere,” he says, scowling down at the thin layer ghosting his pillow. Seiji dangles it over the side of the bed and shakes it out the best he can. “You’re going to be cleaning this up for a long time.”

“Laundry day tomorrow,” Nicholas says, like that sole fact solves everything. Seiji hears him flop onto his creaky mattress with a groan.

Meticulously wiping the duvet off once more, Seiji mulls on whether he should just strip his sheets now, take a thorough shower, and head to the campus gym earlier than usual. Looking at the time once again, he realizes it isn’t even three and he’ll most likely be exhausted from the change in his strict schedule before morning classes start.

“You can go to bed,” Nicholas mumbles from behind the shower curtain as if he can read his thoughts. “Sleeping with it in your hair isn’t going to kill you.”

After a few moments, Seiji relinquishes and lays back down, slowly pulling the sheet over himself as to not accidentally fling any loose glitter onto his face. “Wise words coming from the one who didn’t listen to Harvard about that poison oak by the clubhouse and woke up the next day looking like a cooked lobster.”

Nicholas snorts noisily, and Seiji can hear the wince in his voice at the not so distant memory. “Was not my brightest moment.”

“Let me know if you ever have one of those.”

It’s quiet for a long time; Seiji feels sleep falling over him like a blanket, coming easy now with the presence of his roommate’s night light. Dancing on the edge of consciousness, his body flinches involuntarily at the sudden timbre of Nicholas’ voice.

“You don’t have to wear the glitter when we go out,” he says, and there is a squeak from the bed as he shifts around. “If you don’t like it. I just think it looks nice.”

Through the haze of half-sleep, Seiji realizes the noncommittal answer he gave in the heat of moment earlier was truly a bad idea. He’s known Nicholas for just long enough to be aware of how aggravatingly stubborn he is, and will have to now add this supposed party to the seemingly endless list of things Nicholas will bring up at inopportune times just to give him a migraine.

“I told you I would have to think about that,” Seiji stifles a yawn behind a hand and catches the multicolored smatter still smudged upon his skin. “As for your obnoxious fairy dust, I can’t say I care for it on myself.”

“Oh, so it’s a different story on me?”

Seiji is suddenly very awake. “That is definitely not what I meant.”

“Think it’ll still look nice under the lights of the salle?” The teasing lilt of Nicholas’ voice makes his stomach flutter oddly before the words can even register.

“You won’t have a chance to find out,” Seiji states quickly, envisioning the certain destruction a combination of his sparkly roommate and fencing equipment would ultimately bring. The mental image is horrific. “The rest of the team and I will bar you from entering.”

Nicholas huffs, sounding like laugh buried into a pillow. “Alright, no glitter allowed in the salle.”

“No.”

“Just in your bed, then.”

“You’re insufferable. Go to sleep.”

Seiji rolls over, feeling the sudden need to hide his face despite the obvious drapery between them. Over the deafening thudding in his ears, he can make out Nicholas drowsily murmuring a good night following an apology for waking him up earlier. There are a few minutes spent staring at the textured patterns detailing the wall until soft snores fill the empty space in their dorm. As Seiji listens to the steady, even cadency of Nicholas’ breathing, a spike of unusual apprehension prickles across his skin. He struggles but can’t pinpoint the underlying reason.

Seiji falls headfirst into sleep and dreams of tiny, iridescent specks of light shimmering just behind his eyelids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is it still kabedon if it happens in a bed and not against a wall? if not, im in trouble. thanks for reading!!


	6. day six: and they were roommates

“You’re fucking with me,” Eugene declares, barking out a laugh and pulling his thick coat tighter around himself. The early December air had turned frigid practically overnight, dipping below the 40’s and bringing in a storm that blocked out the sun and made everything frosty and wet. The change in temperature had caused his nose to run like a faucet, sniffle frequently and the whole ordeal was just enough to remind Eugene of just how much he hated Connecticut winters. “Such a bad liar, Cox.”

At his side, Nicholas huffs, struggling to keep up with his pace as they trek across campus towards the salle while caught up in the hectic stampede that's passing period. Eugene spies Nick briskly buttoning up his blazer, probably the first time he’s ever seen him do it voluntarily and not under the risk of getting a dress code citation. If Eugene didn’t know better, he would think the freshman was one of those dumbass straight guys who refused to wear any sort of warm clothing in cold weather besides a T-shirt and basketball shorts.

Eugene nearly trips on another boy’s rolling backpack skidding wildly across the icy sidewalk. He makes sure to throw a dirty look over his shoulder when him and Nick maneuver past. “Positive you don’t want my coat?”

“Nah, we’re almost there. Besides I think yours would be a little small on me, don’t you think?”

The urge to hipcheck Nicholas and send him sprawling into the wet grass is there, but Eugene decides to ignore it along with the shit-eating grin the freshman is giving him. “Not my fault you have fucking frog legs.”

As they near the salle building, the congested sidewalk starts to thin out and they linger to watch a group of football players wielding a boogie board take turns sledding dangerously down a water-logged hill with the ultimate goal of knocking each other over at the bottom.

“Man, I hate jocks.”

Nicholas looks at him and just laughs. “Gene, _you’re_ a jock.”

“Yeah, but I’m the rare type with actual braincells,” Eugene mutters, observing as one of the boys gains too much momentum, starts spinning, and nearly crashes into a nearby tree trunk. “So, you’re telling me Katayama not only smiled, but laughed too, and I missed it?”

Nick starts to play with his backpack straps. “Been trying to tell you that for only the last five minutes.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Eugene grins, hooking his fingers around Nicholas’ necktie and giving it a little pull. “I was busy thinking about what kind of deal with the devil you made to have that happen.”

Nick rolls his eyes and smacks his hand away. “What makes you think I automatically had something to do with it?”

Under Eugene’s unimpressed dead-pan stare, the freshman breaks out into a cheeky smile. “Alright, maybe I’ll take the credit.”

“No shit,” Eugene snorts, and then immediately regrets it when the action makes him start sniffling all over again. He scrubs a sleeve furiously over his raw nose. “Now tell me what you did to make this heavenly miracle happen. Not sure if I should believe you just yet.” 

Nick’s cheeks are reddening, and Eugene is pretty sure it has nothing to do with the cold. “It’s fucking embarrassing.”

“Okay, I’m infinitely more interested now,” Eugene snickers, throwing an arm around his teammate’s neck and jostling him around so they both teeter closer to the edge of the sidewalk. “Tell me, tell me! Or into the grass you’ll go!”

“Fine,” Nicholas whines after unsuccessfully trying to pinch Eugene through the thick material of his coat. He quickly peeks over his shoulder like he expects his roommate to somehow be looming right behind him before he leans in conspiratorially. _“Beau cul_ and _beaucoup_ literally sound too much alike.”

Eugene furrows his eyebrows. Following Nick’s playful teasing about Seiji’s lingering accent from his year in France and the constant goading about how he could probably learn French just as fast and even better, the fencing prodigy had taken it upon himself to prove a point by teaching Nicholas some basics. As if the way Nick fumbled over the easiest words, butchered grammar and all around embarrassed himself wasn’t hilarious enough, a clearly amused Seiji taking delight in asking Nicholas to repeat pronunciations that sent him into a struggling, tongue-twisted mess was a great bonus.

“I’m not following, I don’t have somebody privately tutoring me in the language of love.”

Nick buries his hands in the pockets of his slacks, slowly exhaling a warm breath that curls into a white cloud. “You remember what _beaucoup_ means?”

“Uh,” Eugene tries to recall the useless amount of French he had learned the first semester of his freshman year before he transferred into American Sign Language. “Very? Like _merci beaucoup?_ Thank you so much? What the fuck is _beau cul?_”

Nick’s lips are a strange flat line as he breaks eye contact, suddenly interested at the annoying loud-mouthed football players getting toppled over like bowling pins. He ducks his head a little and Eugene must strain to hear him over the whistling of the wind. “Apparently it means, like…nice ass.”

The gears turning in Eugene’s head grind to a full stop. He blinks. “Holy shit. You mispronounced it.”

Nicholas is rubbing at his neck now, flushed color now high on his cheeks. “Gene.”

“You literally thanked Seiji Katayama for having a nice ass. In _French!_”

“Wow, it’s like I suddenly don’t wanna talk about this anymore.”

Eugene throws his head back, cackling as he reaches blindly to snatch at Nick’s sleeve before he can scurry away. “What’s the problem? That sounds exactly what you meant to say!”

“So fucking embarrassing,” The freshman grumbles, but he’s already smiling at the way Eugene is simultaneously giggling hysterically and gasping for air. “I’m never opening my big mouth ever again.”

“Oh, yeah right,” Eugene smirks, clinging to Nick’s arm as he pivots them to trail behind a group of guys heading up the pavement towards the salle. “He probably turned bright red while he laughed and smiled at you and I know that you loved every second of it.”

“Whatever.” Nicholas makes a good show of huffing and rolling his eyes, but he doesn’t deny anything.

Eugene’s grin grows bigger.

“Damn, totally thought I’d be the first one to make a crack in our Ice Prince’s armor.” He fibs, faking a little pout. “Does Katayama not enjoy my detailed, yet hilarious commentary when I dissect our slop on Mystery Meat Mondays?”

Nick playfully bumps a hip against his. “Remember last week when he called you Gene? Not Eugene, not even Labao. That’s good progress.”

Eugene presses a hand to his own chest. “Not gonna lie, that shit made my heart flutter.”

Laughing, the freshman pulls Eugene closer so he can leech off some of his warmth as the cold breeze starts to pick up again. “Harvard and Aiden’s faces were priceless.”

“Katayama is just too pretty, huh?” Eugene can’t help but tease, especially when Nicholas stumbles clumsily on the icy cement at his words. “Him smiling and laughing must’ve been like seeing the Eighth Wonder of the World or something.”

Nicholas glances away from meeting Eugene’s eyes, now seemingly concerned with watching as the layers of brown tree leaves littering the sidewalk are crunched beneath their feet. He shrugs, that specific single-shouldered one, turning beet red and sheepish all over again like he’s recalling the sight he’s without a doubt already committed to memory. “Yeah.”

“Sheesh, you got it bad. Look at you. The And They Were Roommates Effect strikes again.”

The dopey, lovestruck expression flies off Nick’s face in record time to only be replaced with suspicion. “What’s that?”

“Oh, it’s just a theory I’ve been working on that pretty much states that roommates will either get together or hookup.” Eugene says, trying his best to appear very innocent. “Sometimes both, and sometimes not necessarily in that order.”

Nick wrinkles his nose, throwing him a dubious look. “Smoking that bad weed from the lacrosse team again?”

“There’s data to back up my hypothesis. It’s a science, and I’ve got testimonials.” Eugene disentangles himself from Nicholas’ unwilling grasp so he can list them off on his fingers. “Tanner and Kally have been dating for two years and are probably gonna elope in Las Vegas the day after graduation. Bobby and Dante are the campus’ resident small and tall couple, even if they’re oblivious about the fact. We both know firsthand how Aiden and Harvard are. And speaking of gay pining, wanna guess where that leaves Team Baby?”

Nick reaches out to grab at him, but Eugene dances away and starts skipping merrily the short distance to the salle building all without busting his ass. The herd of guys that had been walking ahead are long gone, disappearing behind the large double doors that are usually kept propped open and now purposefully shut to keep out the cold. When he tries to turn the handle, Eugene really isn’t too surprised to find it already locked. At that exact moment, the late bell rings and echoes around the empty campus. Nicholas lets out a loud, drawn-out groan as he shuffles up behind him.

“Let me innn,” Eugene drones, jiggling the handle so roughly it makes a distinctive metallic-sounding grinding noise. He hastily lets go in case Coach Williams somehow makes a connection between him and any resulting damage. “Love when Jay locks us out like that. Good thing I’ve been saving that cream cheese deodorant prank until he really pissed me off.”

Whistling innocently, Nick slides up next to him. “Is that before or after you guys kiss and/or start going out?”

Eugene gives the freshman a withering look for using his own philosophy against him. “So not interested. Every set of data needs an outlier. I also have my suspicions about him not being a natural blonde.”

After skirting the perimeter to the back of the structure, they sneak through the door that opens right next to Coach William’s office. Peeking around the corner, Eugene declares the coast clear and the pair quickly navigate through the maze of hallways until they reach the entryway leading to the main fencing room. Nick and Eugene hear the defeating drone of dozens of teenagers stuffed into one place before they even see the massive crowd occupying the area. Eugene glances around at the sea of unfamiliar faces that are taking up space, searching for friends, gossiping loudly, and can only think about how horribly smelly it’s about to get. Nicholas turns to him with a baffled and questioning expression, but Eugene can only shrug. He has no idea what the fuck is going on either.

Through a gap in the swarming bodies, Eugene manages to spot Aiden sitting by himself over at the bench where they all usually meet up, his phone pressed to an ear. While other boys are blatantly gawking at him, they are steering clear, and Eugene will never not be impressed at the way both him and Seiji can radiate such a powerful “fuck off” energy with just a simple flick of their eyes. The senior raises his eyebrows expectantly when he catches sight of them, and Eugene feels his back pocket start to vibrate. He digs out his phone and answers without bothering to look at the contact name.

“The fuck is going on?”

Nick nearly gets knocked over by some hyperactive sophomores making the salle their own private wrestling ring. Eugene pulls him to safety and directs him through the throng towards Aiden with a free hand on the back of his neck. “Field electives got cancelled because of the weather, so now they’re stuck with us. Hurry and get over here.”

Eugene can’t help but grin. “Mom? Can you come pick me up? I’m scared.”

Aiden maintains steady eye contact when he promptly ends the call.

As soon as they clear the mob, Nicholas starts unfastening the buttons of his collar and yanking on his tie. The salle is usually kept at a comfortable temperature but with a bunch of boys all packed in it like sardines, with the stifling stench of Axe body spray and musky sweat in the air, it’s already starting to become disgustingly humid. Eugene can’t help but look longingly towards the emergency exit and for the first time in three years, contemplates skipping his fencing period. He doubts the others will be as easily persuaded.

Aiden uncrosses his legs and taps a foot at their approach. “Where were you two?”

“Rudolph over here made us late again,” Nick all but yells in an effort to be heard over the commotion, jamming a thumb at Eugene, who hides his frost-bitten nose behind his hand despite himself. He glowers up at Nick’s damp, windblown hair. He’s a heavy sleeper, and all that Eugene would need is a pair of really sharp scissors. Maybe a weedwhacker. It’d be almost too easy to enact revenge.

Frowning, Aiden gives Nick a quick once over. “Where’s your coat?”

The freshman blinks and does that thing where he tilts his head and the resemblance to a confused puppy is uncanny. “Uh, my root beer float?”

“No,” Aiden says a little louder, rolling his eyes, but smiles when he reaches up to flick Nick’s ear. “Your coat!” He pulls at the collar of his own for emphasis, and that’s when Eugene belatedly realizes how he’s practically swimming in the thick deep navy school-issued jacket. It’s several sizes too big on him, and Eugene’s first impulse is to glance around at the other boys to see which one has had their year made by Aiden choosing to wear theirs instead. While they look like they’re all but ready to light themselves on fire just to keep the blonde warm, everyone else is mostly still bundled up. Something clicks at Aiden wrapping the coat tighter around his lithe frame. It could only be Harvard’s.

“Forgot it this morning,” Nick says, oblivious like always, shrugging out of his blazer and slinging across his bookbag that’s now taking up space on the bench. “Me and Seiji kind of overslept and basically had to run to first period.”

Like clockwork, Eugene is hurled from Team Senior land right into Team Baby territory. “Ooh, you guys had a fun little sleepover and I wasn’t invited?” 

The two other boys either don’t hear him or just pretend like they didn’t. Eugene thinks it’s the latter, judging by the way Nicholas addresses Aiden and entirely changes the subject to something a lot more boring. “We didn’t see Coach in her office, thought we were doing those new drills today.”

“Study Hall needed a substitute, but she obviously left before she knew the other classes were going to be directed here.” Eugene follows Aiden’s pointed gaze over his shoulder and catches a glimpse of Coach Lewis, her red ponytail bobbing frantically as she tries to settle some rowdy soccer players long enough to jot their names down on her clipboard. A few feet over, Harvard’s already dressed out and currently motioning for some guys to take their shit and make camp somewhere else that’s not right on top of a piste.

Eugene spots Jay taking his salle hall monitor job way too seriously per usual, ripping citation slips from a little stack and handing them out to unsuspecting students. Eugene isn’t too sure what his roommate could possibly be writing everyone up for, but it’s obviously not appreciated from the way the other guys raise middle fingers and make jerk-off motions when Jay, absolutely clueless to it all, spins on his heel to stalk towards his next target. Eugene rolls his eyes.

“Where’s everyone else?” he asks, half surprised, half disappointed he doesn’t already see Tanner taking matters into his own hands and using an épée blade to corral all the intruders right out the doors and into the cold.

“Wisely taking shelter in the locker room.”

Eugene grins, turning back to look at the senior. “Aw, and you decided to risk your life waiting out here for us?

Aiden inspects his nails. “Stop reading too deeply into things.”

Without warning, a sharp, earsplitting whistle suddenly cuts the conversation short, one that’s awfully familiar but still succeeds in making Eugene flinch and Nick shield his ears. All noise in the salle comes to a complete halt as everyone’s attention falls to the fencing team’s captain, who’s now standing by an overwhelmed-looking Coach Lewis with her rarely used referee whistle in his gloved hand.

“I want each class to make a line for attendance, and after that everyone needs to take their stuff and clear out from the center of the salle.” Harvard announces, the demanding lilt of his voice hanging heavy in the dead silence. When no one immediately moves, he starts clapping loudly, so reminiscent of Coach Williams it almost gives Eugene whiplash. “_Now_, let’s go! Straight lines!”

Boys hastily start scrambling in all directions to comply with the upperclassman’s orders before they’re personally singled out or issued more warning slips. Aiden stands to pull Nick and Eugene closer to him as a flock of lacrosse players reeking of weed barrel past. Eugene smiles, elbowing Aiden gently in the ribs. “You know, it’s kinda hot when Harvard’s all in strict captain mode.”

The senior gives one of his signature hums, trying to appear nonchalant, but Eugene can’t hide his delight at seeing Aiden only having big heart eyes for their captain while he navigates through an ocean of other guys the campus heartbreaker could easily have his pick of.

Eugene suggestively waggles his eyebrows at Nick and prays that the fact his roommate theory is happening right before their eyes isn’t totally flying over the freshman’s head. The seniors must be doing that freaky thing where they telepathically communicate because Harvard turns, instantly spots them, and starts heading in their direction. Nicholas glances rapidly between the two and then reluctantly looks at Eugene, and noticing his smug little grin, flips him off on the sly. Eugene scowls.

Harvard’s surprised doubletake at Aiden still wearing his coat is hardly subtle. He smiles big. “Glad to see all of you made it out alive.”

“Who knew the children would end up being the most behaved in an emergency like this?” Aiden says, crossing his arms over his chest, totally unbothered when the action makes the sleeves completely envelop his hands.

Harvard’s lone dimple is making a special appearance. “Oh, I had no doubt about that.”

Nick rocks on his heels, fixing the upperclassmen with a big, boyishly charming smile that Eugene knows from experience is hard to resist. “Sounds like a pretty good reason to be promoted from Team Baby to Team Toddler, right?”

“Nice fucking try,” Eugene snorts nosily before anybody can fall victim to his trap. “You and Katayama are gonna be stuck in Team Baby hell forever. Better get used to it.”

While Nicholas is busy sticking out his tongue, Harvard blinks, scans their little group and then around at the salle. “Wait, Seiji’s not out here?”

Aiden’s perfectly shaped eyebrows knit together. “I thought he was in the locker room.”

“Didn’t see him, I thought he’d be waiting with you.”

“Maybe his bio lab ran late?” Eugene offers hesitantly, aware like the others, that it’s very bizarre Seiji is tardy. The team had quickly discovered he was the special sort of type who absolutely needed to be fifteen minutes early to everything, whether it be tournaments, movie nights, or mandatory fencing practices. Sometimes, Nicholas would drag his ass on purpose just to spite him, pushing the other boy to reach out and yank impatiently at the unruly part of his undercut in hopes to get him moving out the door. Eugene couldn’t deny he wasn’t entertained at the lengths Nick went to get Seiji’s fingers in his hair.

Before they can form a search party for the missing freshman, the main doors of salle swing open, letting a gust of badly needed fresh air into the room which currently stinks of Athlete's foot. The Ice Prince himself lingers in the entryway, holding his little personal key to the building and eyes comically wide at all the extra bodies crammed inside before his expression returns to its usual stoic impassiveness.

Across the room, Jay’s head practically spins around a full 180 degrees, fully prepared to slap someone with a tardy slip. But when he sees who it is, he hesitates, obviously thinking better of it, and then poorly pretends not to notice Seiji’s grand entrance.

Eugene starts waving an arm dramatically, even though Katayama had long since spotted their group and was swiftly headed their way. “Yoo-hoo, we’re over here, handsome!” At this, the freshman immediately tries hiding his face in the upturned collar of his coat.

“And where were _you_?” Aiden inquires as soon as Seiji is within earshot, assessing him closely up and down while the freshman is still trying to shake off the embarrassment of Eugene’s loud callout.

“I needed to go back to the dorm and pick something up.”

“Well, text next time if you know you’re going to be late. It’s especially weird for you.” Aiden says, picking a little piece of brown leaf from Seiji’s mussed hair.

Seiji blinks in surprise, suddenly unusually meek. He straightens and nods.

Aiden rubs at his temples and looks pitifully up at Harvard. “They’re going to give me gray hairs.”

Inclining his head, Harvard scrunches his nose in fake uncertainty. “I think that’s what box dye is for.”

“Oh, very funny.” Aiden scoffs and swats playfully at Harvard’s bicep before he snugly links their arms together, a gesture so instinctual and familiar between the two, Eugene hardly bats an eye at it anymore. “Maybe over my dead body.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to fence in these conditions,” Seiji says coolly, his dark eyes roaming over the mass of boys now lining the walls and taking advantage of their free period by either doing homework or getting a nap in by using their backpacks as pillows. They all remain blissfully unaware how lucky they were to have been put in place by Harvard instead of being verbally eviscerated by Katayama’s sharp tongue.

Harvard chuckles, giving Seiji a little pat between his shoulder blades. “Oh, I think we all know you could fence well even in a blizzard.”

Seiji looks thoughtful at that, like he’s actually fucking considering giving it a go.

The rest of their fencing period finally starts trickling in from the locker room, risking the waters after the initial chaos has passed. Eugene spies Bobby carefully adjusting the bright neon clips in his hair that literally no one will see once he slips his mask on. The Bons are already craning their necks and hunting for a certain pretty blonde, eager to take their respective places in hovering close, something that clearly annoys all the team, save for Aiden, who always pays no mind. Tanner is red-faced and extremely pissed, Kally’s hand clasped in his looking like the only thing that’s keeping him from flying completely off the handle. Harvard gives Aiden’s arm a subtle squeeze before he’s whisked away to carry out captain duties at Coach Lewis’ side.

When Eugene turns his attention back to the freshmen, he’s surprised to see them now intensely staring each other down, especially with considering the way they had been awkwardly avoiding eye contact ever since Seiji’s arrival. He might’ve underestimated the power of Nicholas’ foreign language fuck up and hopes it doesn’t ruin the several months of gay pining progress Eugene has been painstakingly overseeing.

Deciding he wants to break the ice first, Nick grins slyly at his roommate. “What’s ‘slowpoke’ in French?”

Seiji rolls his eyes, but there’s absolutely no heat behind it. He hesitates, taking a few seconds to think. Then: “_Lambin_.”

“_Lambin_,” Nick repeats, clumsily testing the new word out on his own tongue. “Think I’ll actually remember that one.”

“That would be a first.” Seiji says, and then he unexpectedly offers, what Eugene just thought was his blazer this entire time, the coat he’s had neatly folded and tucked in the crook of his arm. “Here.”

Nick obviously didn’t recognize what it was either, from the way he’s squinting. “What’s that?”

Seiji quirks an eyebrow. “Your coat?”

“But we forgot them this morning."

“Yes,” Seiji says too quickly, eyes flicking momentarily over to Aiden and Eugene. He reaches up to toy with the lapel of his own winter jacket Nicholas has taken lazy notice of. “I went back for mine during passing period and yours just happened to be hanging up right next to it.”

Eugene lets a slow grin spread across his face. “Funny how that works out.”

The pair completely ignore him, which he must admit they’re getting pretty good at. Nick takes his coat from Katayama and rubs a thumb over the little emblazoned crest. When he looks back up, he has a bright, almost coy smile on his face. “You didn’t have to do that. Thanks.”

Seiji just makes an approving hum in answer, very Aiden-like of him, and tries to act like he doesn’t have a hot flush inching up his neck at the way Nicholas is openly gazing at him.

Eugene briefly glances away to Aiden, who’s idly twirling a piece of hair around a finger and observing the entire exchange just as closely as he is. When he manages to make eye contact with him, Eugene silently mouths ‘_that’s gay’. _

Hilariously, Nick starts shrugging into his coat at the same time Katayama is unclasping buttons and taking his off. Seiji notices this instantly and the corners of his mouth twitch, like he’s fighting a smile. “You’re putting it on when we are about to dress out.”

Wiggling further into his coat sleeves, Nick defiantly jerks his chin up. “Maybe I’m cold right now.”

Eugene really can’t help himself today. “I bet Seiji could warm you-“

He’s suddenly interrupted when Aiden slithers up and snakes an arm through his, clutching him close. Eugene is instantly overwhelmed by the smell of perfumey shampoo as the senior slouches to rest his chin on a shoulder. “Come with me, I need to fill up my water bottle.”

Eugene blinks. “Alright? Why the fuck do I gotta go with—ouch! You just fucking _pinched_ me!”

Rubbing his aching wrist, he allows himself to be towed away from the freshmen and over to the water fountain at the opposite side of the salle. Aiden's disapproval is evident by the way he makes the little flick he gives Eugne's ear sting. “You’ve got an awfully big mouth.”

Three sets of eyes are burning into the back of Eugene’s skull, no doubt the Bons seething about how touchy Aiden is being with him. “You know, coming from a gay guy, that’s actually a really sweet compliment.”

“And you’re going to mess everything up because you meddle too much.”

“I meddle just the perfect amount, thank you very much.” Eugene argues, leaning against the wall and watching as Aiden really does begin to fill up his Hydro Flask, his favorite one with “Boy Tears” itched in loopy letters along its side. Rolling his eyes, Eugene peeks over at the freshmen, still standing close together across the room. Nick now has every single button of his coat done up, sweat glinting off his forehead and Seiji looks like he wants to both strangle and kiss him. “They’re going to get together after New Year’s, I’m fucking calling it.”

Pursing his lips, Aiden throws a glance over his shoulder at them. “So soon after Christmas Break? I don’t think so.”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or whatever the saying is. But maybe you don’t know shit about that considering you’re gonna spend the entire vacation shacked up with Harvard.”

Aiden glares sharply, green eyes flashing in warning to shut the fuck up before Eugene crosses a line about something that’s better off remaining unsaid. He straightens and tightly screws the lid back on his water bottle, pivoting to silently join in on the Team Baby observation party.

Eugene sticks out his bottom lip.

“I’m just playing. Don’t be mad at me,” He theatrically clings to Aiden’s arm, somewhat to piss the Bons off even further, but mostly in hopes to butter the senior up and get back on his good side. He thinks it’s working, judging by the way Aiden lets him comfortably rest his cheek on his shoulder. “Since we disagree, bet your shitty dad’s money on it. Pick a time frame for the Team Baby Miracle, O Wise One.”

Aiden lifts an eyebrow at this but appears contemplative as he studies the freshmen. Nick is laughing, reaching out to pluck teasingly at a stray lock of hair sticking to Seiji’s forehead, wavy and disheveled from the shitty weather. The fencing prodigy is pretending to be all grouchy about it yet makes no move to stop him, and Eugene thinks he’s probably having a full-blown gay meltdown on the inside. He’s about to ask if Aiden would like to reconsider not gunning for January when he speaks again. “First week of February.”

Eugene snorts in disbelief, peering up at him. “Right before Valentine’s Day, you being serious? That’s so fucking cliché.”

“This is Team Baby we’re talking about.” Aiden says simply, sounding sure of himself as he lightly boops Eugene’s nose with the cap of his flask. “They scream cliché. Trust me on these things.”

“Yeah, okay, we’ll see about that, Blondie.” When they shake on it, Eugene has to rein in the big, fat grin on his face and the instinctive urge to whip out the finger guns in triumph. Unbeknownst to the senior, Eugene has another bet running on him and Harvard getting together before the holidays with Tanner.

He’s going to be coming into a lot of money soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one of my laptop hinges decided it wanted to break before the semester started and i had to get it repaired and then the semester actually started, and i hardly had any free time to sit down and work this out. im really sorry about that. this should finally be finished within the next few days. thanks to anyone that’s still reading!


	7. day seven: indirect win

A warm hand comes to rest at Nicholas’ nape just as the elevator doors slide open with an ominous rattle. Harvard gently steers him inside and Nick all but sags against the wall, yawning so wide that his jaw pops. The weight on the back of his neck is familiar, especially when the senior’s hand slides right up and into the long part of his undercut, tousling his hair. Nicholas opens his eyes, blinking sleepily, and finds that he’s on the receiving end of another concerned look over. It’s only the fourth not-so-subtle one his captain has given him since they’d left Exton.

Quirking a brow, Harvard studies his face for a moment longer. “You alright?”

“I’m _fine,_” Nick stresses, making sure it’s especially whiny, which just gets him a playful knuckle rap on the temple. Pouting and rubbing exaggeratedly at his hairline, Nicholas squirms away from Harvard’s evil fingers, already poised for another attack, and quickly moves to take cover behind Seiji. Adjusting the strap of his sports duffel as he steps inside the elevator, Seiji rolls his eyes at him before repeatedly pressing the little button meant for holding the doors.

Harvard’s laugh is a deep rumble. “Using your boyfriend as a human shield now?”

Nicholas hooks his chin over Seiji’s shoulder, glaring at that dimple. “Yup.”

Suddenly struck with the completely realistic notion that he could be in a traitorous mood and easily sidestep to let Harvard grab at him, Nick wraps his arms around Seiji’s waist, pulling them flush together and making any hopes for escaping or backstabbing impossible. Judging from the little huff Seiji makes, a telltale sign he wants to laugh, Nicholas is pretty sure his suspicions were correct. He digs his chin into the space where Seiji’s shoulder and neck meet in silent retaliation.

Luckily, Harvard gets distracted by Aiden and Eugene appearing next, quickly slipping in just as the doors abruptly snap shut after them with a deafening shriek of grinding metal and gears. Breathing out a “Jesus!”, Aiden barely manages to snatch his bag away before it gets caught.

“This elevator is gonna fucking kill us one day.” Eugene grumbles, hitting the button for the second floor and then hitting it again harder with a fist when it fails to light up. “We’re stuck using this death trap, just some Final Destination shit waiting to happen while Exton has one with a _chandelier_ in their salle. Like hello? Why does a salle even need three stories in the first place?”

Harvard just grins, reeling in Aiden by the sleeve until the other boy cozies up to side. “I didn’t hear you complaining about the lounge area with all the flat screen TV’s. Or the spa jets in the showers. The locker room didn’t even have that sweaty feet aroma we all know you love so much.”

Absolutely sulking, Eugene lets his head thump against the wall and throws up his hands. The now half-melted Baja Blast Freeze Harvard had bought him hours ago in hopes of curing his bad mood sloshes over the plastic lid and contributes to the perpetual stickiness of the floor. Still wanting a sip or five, Nicholas frowns when his best puppy dog eyed stare goes unnoticed while Eugene continues, “Yeah, because all that shit’s cool. Also, the last one should be a basic human necessity. If I gotta be victim to Tanner’s medical mystery of a big toe fungus after elective one more time, I’m actually gonna throw up.”

“Any reason in particular why you’re so grumpy?” Aiden pops open his favorite compact mirror and fusses with a few blonde pieces that had fallen loose from his messy bun. Nick stumbles a little when Seiji hastily leans over to check his own reflection, his hand combing carefully through dark hair that’s still slightly damp and, for once, free of gel.

Now it’s Nick’s turn to roll his eyes.

The little furrow Eugene gets when he knits his brow appears. “I’m not fucking grumpy.”

“Well, you’re definitely something,” Aiden observes, glancing up as he snaps his little mirror shut. He waves Seiji’s fingers away and begins brushing back the wet strands still clinging to his forehead and temple for him, skillfully styling it in the way they all know he prefers. Seiji is standing perfectly still as if not wanting to disrupt him.

Eugene, who would normally be all over any Soft Moments between the two, only frowns down at his soda. “Just bummed Coach didn’t book us overnight at that fancy hotel again. I slept like the dead last time, now I gotta listen to Jay snoring like he’s deepthroating a foghorn all night.”

“You’re really surprised we’re not staying where Team Baby’s Mini Bar Incident took place?” Harvard says as he folds his arms and then pointedly looks at Nick and Seiji.

“I was so close at tricking the sensors, you’ve gotta give me that at least.” Nick says, unsuccessfully fighting off a cheeky grin while Seiji deadpans, “I told him not to do it and I tried stopping him. Multiple times.”

Aiden drops his hand, giving his work with Seiji’s hair an approving once over before raising an eyebrow at Eugene. “So, it has nothing to do with the boy?”

“What boy!” Nick all but yells over Eugene’s sudden cough attack, completely unaware he’s squeezing the life of out Seiji in excitement until he hears a small, strangled grunt.

A dangerously slow smile appears as Aiden looks around at them, no doubt pleased by their dumbfounded expressions. “The boy that’s been blowing up Gene’s phone ever since we got on the bus?”

As if on cue, several loud chimes followed by a lengthy buzz come from Eugene’s pocket. They all turn in unison to gawk and Seiji even does a quick full-body swivel that nearly sends Nick flailing against the elevator handrail. Resettling his chin on Seiji’s shoulder, he squints at his best friend, trying to see the “glow” Bobby is always gushing that people in new relationships supposedly have. But Gene just looks sweaty.

Under their interrogating stares, he casually takes an obnoxiously long slurp of his drink before speaking again. “Why do you always think it’s a boy? It could be a girl. It could just be my _other_ mom.”

“Your mom starts texting you right when our last bout ends, like she was there? That’s strange, I didn’t see her in the stands.” Leaning in, Aiden whispers conspiratorially at Nicholas and Seiji. There’s a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Whoever it is, I think he was fencing at Exton today just like us.”

“It’s called a coincidence, you actual blonde demon.”

“I don’t believe in those,” Aiden gives him a dazzling grin before pressing a knuckle to his lips and blinking owlishly up at Harvard. “But speaking of blondes! How many were at the tournament today? Because that definitely narrows down our pool of boys.”

To Nicholas’ amazement, Gene is full-out blushing now. “Oh, that’s real funny, all of you waiting until I was half unconscious in a carb coma during that one movie night just so you could wheedle invaluable information about what I like outta me. You’re all vultures.”

Nick can’t clearly see Seiji’s face at this angle, but he’s pretty positive he’s smirking by the way Eugene is suddenly eyeing him suspiciously. “He’s turning all red.”

“Fuck off, Katayama!”

“Alright, alright,” Harvard finally brings out his notorious Captain Voice, sadly putting an end to any further teasing. Wrapping an arm securely around Aiden, Harvard inclines his head and the dimple that seemingly only pokes out when he’s being especially charming, mischievous or an impressive combination of both returns yet again. “You know, I think Nick got jealous at you fixing Seiji’s hair and leaving his all messed up.”

“Yeah and who’s to blame for that in the first place?” Nick mutters, narrowing his eyes. He’ll play along with the change of topic for now since Gene has gone stubbornly silent, but is expecting a full explanation about Mystery Boy first thing in the morning. Hopefully, he’ll be in a better mood at breakfast.

If they’re serving hash browns, there’s an even better chance.

Reaching out, Aiden gives the lengthy part of Nick’s undercut a deliberate tug, something he’d unfortunately learned from Seiji. “I can’t fix this, Harvard, look at him! He’s starting to look like an overgrown Chia Pet.”

Nicholas thumps a fist repeatedly against Seiji’s stupidly hot rock-solid stomach at his loud and amused snort before his whole body starts shaking with a silent laugh. Nick pouts and grips him tighter.

Aiden has his lips pursed as if in the middle of some big decision. “Haircuts tomorrow,” he finally announces, extensively combing through Nick’s hair, probably already gauging what sort of heavy-duty tools he’ll need from his bottomless salon bag this time. Nicholas leans into the touch for a few moments before burying another yawn between Seiji's shoulder blades.

Letting his eyes slip shut, he zones out completely as the others start discussing their Sunday plans; late morning practice followed by an all-day mall trip coordinated by Bobby at Dante’s claim he didn’t know what he wanted for his upcoming birthday and Tanner’s threat that he’d get a bunch of Olive Garden gift cards if he didn’t start giving them ideas. There’s a biology worksheet due Monday still lost somewhere in his bookbag, hilariously enough, on plant classifications. He knows Seiji hasn’t started his either because they never do their homework without the other. Nicholas can’t find it in himself to be embarrassed about all the “joined at the hip” teasing anymore because it was true long before they even got together.

When he shifts to rest his cheek on Seiji’s back instead, Nick is overwhelmed with the prickly sensation of being watched. He pops open an eye and sees Eugene intently staring at him. The furrow in his brow is even more noticeable and he’s still weirdly quiet, not even breaking his vow of silence to make some snarky little remark about Team Baby's lack of personal space. Nick never thought he’d miss Gene’s shit-eating grin more than he does right now, and paired with the junior’s intense expression, he finds himself feeling a little self-conscious.

“What?” Nicholas murmurs sheepishly, lifting his head and rubbing at a patchy imprint the coarse material of Seiji’s track jacket left on his cheek. He playfully kicks at the treasured white high tops he swears he’s seen Eugene actually kiss once, normally guaranteed in getting him a merciless hip check, but the other boy only continues to study him.

“Nothing,” he says after a long moment, unfocused and frowning at something Nick can’t see. Then, blinking rapidly as if clearing his head, Gene reaches past him and begins mashing the grimy elevator button they’d all long since forgotten about. “Fuck, has this thing even been _moving?_”

When the lift finally lurches to shuddering stop at their floor, the doors start cycling between hissing open partway and snapping shut, only one of the elevator’s countless sketchy malfunctions that has Nick frequently wondering why they keep playing chicken with their lives instead of just taking the stairs.

Eugene is already quickly slipping out and into the hallway when a gap wide enough appears before Aiden can tell him to wait, his scold dying early in his throat. Heaving a great sigh, he exchanges a brief cross-eyed look with Harvard, a silent little interaction they share when the rest of the team does something incredibly ridiculous and/or stupid. Naturally, Nick has witnessed it a lot.

Following the seniors after the faulty elevator doors calm down and are deemed safe enough, Nicholas makes no move to unglue himself from Seiji’s back and instead clings tighter, forcing Seiji into a hilarious tottering, crab-like walk. Nick laughs loudly when they both stumble hard and almost faceplant, Seiji’s unfamiliar clumsiness only made funnier because he’s the reason behind it.

“Nicholas,” he huffs, tugging petulantly at one of the arms slung tightly around his waist while struggling with the strap of his duffel. Without a word, Nick slips it right off Seiji’s shoulder and up onto his own. The combined weight of both of their hefty sports bags makes him a little lopsided until Seiji takes one of his hands and threads their fingers together, keeping it securely against his abdomen. Then Nicholas feels unsteady for an entirely different reason.

Seiji doesn’t try to escape after that, even when Nick purposefully steers them towards a wall just so he can press him up against it.

Near the end of the hallway, Eugene is playing around on his phone and leaning beside his dorm door; the designated spot where they all gather and say goodnight after returning home late from a tournament. The seniors have unsurprisingly beat them there, Aiden reaching outrageous levels of smug as he watches Gene protectively tilting the screen away as his thumbs fly and fire off multiple texts.

Wobbling closer, Nick can hear Jay’s monstrously loud snores coming from inside the dorm, true to Eugene’s word, and is amazed the entire building isn’t shaking. “Does he have sleep apnea or something?”

Gene glances up from his phone before shoving it back in a pocket. “Fuck if I know, but he slobbers everywhere too. Almost as bad as you.”

Nicholas feels his face instantly flush. “I don’t drool!”

“Yeah, you do.” Everyone choruses, Seiji’s tone particularly flat, and Nick doesn’t even know why he tried denying the accusation when every single one of them has been used as his personal pillow at some point, and consequently, a Saliva Sponge. He frowns and toys with the zipper of Seiji’s jacket but shuts the fuck up before they can start waving around the receipts. The video showcasing the giant puddle he left on the bus seat that one time is especially mortifying.

With the hand that’s not holding his, Seiji reaches out towards Eugene, lightly touching his elbow. “All your fleches were perfect today.”

Head lolling to the side, Eugene finally gives them that toothy smile they’ve been missing all day. It’s tired but genuine, and Nick can’t help but be instantly flooded with relief at the sight of it. “Thanks, buddy. You were godlike as per usual. Wish we could’ve snagged first, though.”

“Out of fourteen schools, placing second is…” Seiji hesitantly trails off, something he does when he’s struggling with finding the right words or how to express them. Nick gives him an encouraging squeeze and he exhales a deep breath, “Not bad. Everyone performed better than expected and we ranked above other teams that have defeated us before. It’s a great result.”

Grinning, Nicholas watches Harvard and Aiden’s eyebrows shoot up in perfect unison, jaws hanging open little bit. After a few seconds of gawking, Eugene jams a pinky finger in his ear and wiggles it around violently. “Either my tinnitus is going totally nuts, or I just heard Katayama give us a shiny gold star.”

Nick hasn’t seen Harvard beaming this hard since he and Aiden returned from their Christmas vacation in the Alps. “Hey, that’s what I like to hear.” he says warmly to Seiji, suddenly looking suspiciously misty-eyed. Aiden takes one look at him and smothers a bubbling laugh with his hand.

“Hold the fuck up!” Eugene interrupts, rushing to pull his phone back out and open Snapchat. “I need to memorialize this beautiful moment of _the _Seiji Katayama declaring first place overrated.” Lining up the shot, he squints at the screen. “Get your ugly mug outta the frame, Cocks.”

Nick replaces his chin on Seiji’s shoulder with a middle finger.

“Good enough,” The shutter sound goes off a moment later and Eugene’s playful grin makes a comeback. “Very cute, but I don’t know if this one’ll replace Seiji Eating Chocolate Stuffed Crepes as his group chat picture.”

Seiji sighs deeply, though his voice is laced with absolutely zero heat. “I wish you would just delete that.”

“That’s my favorite, though.” Nick murmurs, tightening his hold around Seiji’s waist, effectively rendering his boyfriend silent. Gene throws his head back and laughs like a wild hyena at whatever expression Seiji must be making.

“Speaking of good food,” Chuckling, Aiden slides a hand up further on Harvard’s bicep. “Let’s go to Vernon Diner after practice. I’ll text the others so they can meet us, and we can all head to the mall from there.”

Ignoring Nick’s incessant chant of “cheeseburger”, Harvard rolls his eyes, a smile tugging at his mouth. “You’re really going to have a milkshake for breakfast again?”

Aiden laughs, and pulls Harvard down for a quick kiss by the lapel of his jacket. “Well, I need something to dip your fries in, don’t I?”

“Oh my god!” Eugene is covering his eyes, as if protecting his non-existent innocence. “It’s _exactly_ like seeing your parents sucking face. Please get a room!”

“We already do,” Aiden slyly says and winks, which only has Harvard’s cheeks darkening and Gene hunching over, retching theatrically. Seiji untangles his fingers from Nick’s so he can consolingly pat Eugene’s back.

“Great job today. Get some sleep, drills start at ten, so be on time or no brunch for any of you,” Harvard lightly threatens, trying but failing hard at being stern and not smiling. Nick knows by now that they’ll get fed either way.

Eugene groans but does a little two-finger salute. “Aye, aye, cap’n.”

“Do your skin care routines!” Aiden must remind over his shoulder, because Harvard is practically dragging him away down the corridor by the hand. Nick whistles innocently, pretending he doesn’t see the way Aiden’s sharp gaze deliberately lingers on him.

“Night, disgusting lovebirds!” Gene already has his door unlocked before the seniors have theirs shut, which is remarkable considering he’s always misplacing his room key. He’s eager to flee and Nicholas almost wants to pester him about the boy some more, but he’s also finally smiling again. Nick bites his tongue when Eugene turns to look at them.

“Goodnight, Pretty,” he says affectionately to Seiji, then to Nick: “Goodnight, Big Mushroom Head.”

“Goodnight, Gene.”

By way of replying, Nick sticks his tongue out at him over Seiji’s shoulder and blows a raspberry.

Eugene quickly ducks inside his room, the deafening sound of Jay’s snores pouring out at full volume before the door clicks shut and they’re left alone in the hall.

Backpedaling, Nicholas pulls Seiji along with him until they reach their dorm door, the first on the floor and the only one still adorned with Bobby’s homemade Valentine’s Day decorations. He crowds Seiji up against a giant, glittery red heart and takes delight in the little huff he makes.

“This is your punishment for laughing when Aiden called me a plant.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong; the likeness is there.”

Seiji reaches around for the carabiner ring trapped between their bodies and ends up insistently jabbing Nick’s hip when he can’t get to his back pocket. Withdrawing slightly, Nicholas sticks a hand inside and takes his sweet time fishing it out. He twirls the key ring on his finger before placing it in Seiji’s expectant open palm. “Am I a cute plant at least?” 

“The comparison to a spider monkey seems more appropriate right now,” Seiji says without missing a beat, selecting the dorm key and inserting it into the lock. “Everything could go much faster if you weren’t hanging off my back.”

“Nah,” Nick tugs the collar of Seiji’s track jacket down and spies the pink flush already creeping up his neck. He presses a chaste kiss there and Seiji twists the key so roughly in the latch he almost expects it to snap.

The dorm door flies open, and Nicholas laughs as they wobble pass the threshold, leaving Seiji blindly fumbling for the light switch. Kicking the door shut behind them, Nick props his chin back up on Seiji’s shoulder and looks around their room. “Where are we headed now?”

“_I’m _using the bathroom,” he says loftily, toeing a stray black shoe out of his path and firmly ignoring the way Nicholas is trying to deviate them towards the beds.

“I was going to use it first, but I guess I can let you inside too.” 

Seiji looks over his shoulder at him, a single dark eyebrow arched and incredulous. “Are you forgetting what happened last time we tried brushing our teeth together?”

Nick’s smile turns into a smirk despite himself, thinking back to when he and Seiji had leaned over at the same time to spit in the sink, only for a glob of foamy saliva and Crest Cavity Protection to land in Seiji’s perfect hair. He’d just finished blow drying and meticulously styling it for fifteen whole minutes. “You know that was an accident. But it _was_ really funny.”

“My assigned emoji in the group chat was a tube of toothpaste for two weeks.”

“It could’ve been worse; it could’ve been Listerine,” Nicholas argues, removing a hand from Seiji’s waist so he can run his fingers slowly through the hair curling on the back of his nape, thumbing over the little beauty mark he has just below his hairline.

Seiji’s impassive gaze drops to his mouth. Nick doesn’t miss how he slightly shivers at his touch. “You are so annoying.”

“And you must really love it since you’re dating me.”

Inching his chin further up on a wide-set shoulder, Nicholas closes his eyes and puckers his lips, anticipating the kiss he’s about to receive, yet only hears a breathy scoff before he’s abruptly left floundering. Swallowing a yelp, Nicholas clumsily grasps at Seiji’s broad chest and stumbles over his own feet. “Hey!”

“Were you needing something?” Seiji says, coming to a stop in front of their bathroom and obviously not the least bit sorry whatsoever at all the ways he just left Nick hanging.

“Uh_, yeah_,” he frowns, yanking irritably at Seiji’s shirt since he now has two good handfuls of it. “I know you saw that passata sotto I pulled off during the New Canaan match. That’s worth at least ten kisses, so time for you to pay up before I start charging a late fee.”

Seiji snorts, but it’s edging on an almost laugh. “That’s not how this works.”

“Really?” Nick grins, flattening his hands. He can feel Seiji’s heart leap under a palm. “Seemed to work out just fine last time. Or the time before that.”

Completely ignoring him, an action he had long since perfected to an artform, Seiji reaches into the bathroom and flicks on the light, successfully snapping Nick out of a daze in wondering just how pink Seiji’s ears can really get. He determinedly snakes his arms back around him and pulls them flush together again. “Good fucking luck escaping now, I’m not letting you get-“

Seiji is out of his hold before he can even blink, gracefully twisting away and stepping inside their bathroom like Nicholas hanging onto him was something he was simply allowing all along only because he liked it, and had nothing to do with, what Nicholas thought, his very powerful iron grip. He probably shouldn’t be this surprised.

“Wooow,” he drawls, after recovering from a brief stunned silence. Nick can now see that there’s a smattering of glitter across Seiji’s left cheekbone from the sparkly paper heart and he almost gets distracted. “You _wanted_ me back hugging you this whole entire time.”

Seiji doesn’t say anything to that, but he doesn’t need to; the smug, little satisfied smile he doesn’t even tote after a 15-0 bout speaks for itself. Nick only gets a glimpse of it before the door is swung shut right in his face and promptly locked a millisecond later.

Nicholas has never wanted to kiss someone so bad.

Knowing that Seiji’s night routine always takes the same amount of time: exactly twelve minutes from start to finish, Nick meanders at usual snail pace through his own. Yawning, he gently sets their bags on the desk after moving some books and stray papers out of the way. He pulls off his hoodie and sweats and shoes, changing into a worn tank top and the soft red flannel pajama pants Eugene had gotten him for Christmas.

He crouches in front of the mini fridge humming on the night table between their beds and opens it, the all-too-familiar sight of Seiji’s disgusting green drinks and protein shakes, all neatly labeled, making him pull a face. He rummages around and manages to extract a Gatorade from the abyss of health, chugs it down in several gulps and successfully lands it in the trash can from across the room with an amazing overhand throw nobody is there to see.

Nicholas belly flops on his bed, ignoring how loudly the headboard thwacks against the wall. Stuffing a pillow under his head, he sends an obligatory goodnight text to the team group chat even though Gene is probably already asleep despite his roommate’s snores, dreaming about the hash browns he’ll drench in sriracha sauce tomorrow. Harvard and Aiden are without a doubt still up, busy doing things he doesn’t even want to begin thinking about. Nick would be willing to bet anything on them being the ones late for practice in the morning.

He must’ve dozed off, because next thing he knows, he’s startled awake by a damp towel being thrown over his face. Seiji is obviously still pleased with himself. “_Now_ it’s your turn.”

The tiny bathroom is spotless like it wasn’t just used, the countertop wiped down with everything back in its designated place. Out of the corner of his eye, Nicholas can see all the jars and bottles for skincare Aiden had bought he and Seiji, a seven-step routine that Nick feels exhausted upon completing, never mind when he can even remember to do it in the right order. He ignores them while vigorously brushing his teeth and squinting at his disheveled hair in the mirror. Eventually, he caves in and grabs the vanilla-scented cleanser and scrubs it all over his face before quickly splashing it off.

The yellow wall-eyed rubber ducks on the shower curtain look like they’re judging him.

When Nicholas flicks off the light and opens the door, their room is dark save for the Himalayan salt lamp on the nightstand dousing anything close enough in a soft red-orange hue. Seiji is already in his bed, changed out and under the covers with the glitter gone from his cheek, hair wavy and curling on his forehead, the way it does when it’s still damp. His profile is illuminated in a sunset glow that only emphasizes the intensity of his eyes as they watch him. Nicholas doesn’t miss his old nightlight not even a little bit.

Swallowing, he tries feigning casualness by crossing his arms and leaning against the door jamb. “You’re gonna have to use actual words if you want me to cuddle you.”

They share a long combative stare and Nick knows he’s already won even before Seiji glances away first, scoffing and scooting over to make some room. “Just get over here.”

It’s good enough for Nicholas. Letting out an obnoxiously loud yawn, he crosses the short distance to the other side of the dorm and does a full body stretch before unceremoniously collapsing on top of his boyfriend. From somewhere underneath him, Nick hears a muffled swear in French.

“Haven’t gotten a kiss all day long,” Nick grumbles after a few quiet minutes. He’s snuggled into Seiji’s side, ear to his heart with a leg thrown over his hip. There’s a hand slowly threading through the usually shorn part of his undercut that’s growing out and Nicholas almost wishes he didn’t say anything when it stills.

“Are you still whining about that?” His tone makes Nick lift his head, and once he’s able to tear his gaze from Seiji’s ridiculously long eyelashes, he notices how he has his chin tilted in silent invitation. Sucking in a breath, Nicholas leans in.

Seiji’s kisses are warm and sweet, so unlike the icy facade he feels he sometimes still needs to put on. He kisses with the same confidence he carries onto the fencing strip, no longer hesitant or always soft and pliant like he’d been at the beginning. Because right now, it’s like Seiji is making it a personal goal to make Nick’s breath hitch; his hands are dragging up and through his hair, pulling him closer until there’s no space left between them. Lightheaded with an excited buzzing in his ears, Nick can’t help but grin into every kiss and just try to keep up.

He feels his brain short circuit when Seiji’s tongue slips past his lips.

Whatever noise he makes then is enough for Seiji to pull back, their noses bumping. He’s a little wide-eyed and completely flushed pink. It takes him a few moments to get out, “That was new.”

“Shut up,” Nick laughs, ducking his head to hide his embarrassment but mostly so he can start kissing the sensitive part of Seiji’s neck, which is everywhere. Besides his hands tightening their hold in Nicholas' hair and a little shaky exhale of breath, Seiji has absolutely nothing more to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally done! Even though this took an inexcusable and unforgivable amount of time to finish (im sooo sorry sldkflsfd) I really enjoyed participating in my first ever fence event! the prompts were super fun, creative, and cute and i loved reading/seeing so many other contributions as well. i truly appreciate all the sweet comments, feedback, and kudos i’ve received on every chapter. thanks so much, and thanks for taking the time to read! <3


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